Spaniards work 277 hours longer than Germans

• Number of working hours is not equal to work quality
• Spaniards 'sit around' doing very little

EUROPE -- The myth exists that Germans work harder than their equivalents in the Mediterranean but the numbers don't agree. Spaniards who are still lucky enough to still have a job in the first place, or those who have managed to reinvent themselves by becoming self-employed, work an average of 1,665 hours a year -- compared to the German average, about 300 hours below that. This is according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation) in its Better Life Index/Work-Life Balance latest report. However, Spain is not at the head of the world ranking for the longest hours. That is headed by such countries as Mexico, Korea and Chile. On the other hand, Germany and Holland have the lowest average annual working hours of all the OECD countries: between 1,350 and 1,450 hours.

The report points out that while Spain has increased the number of hours compared to the heady pre-crisis days, it is evident that in 2000 the working year was longer than at present.

Responsibilities, motivation and commitment

Being at work is not a synonym for work quality. There are many people, it says, who spend a lot of time being at work without any visible production, while others spend less time and get much better results from their efforts.

The responsibilities taken up by the worker are definitely influential, as is motivation and commitment to the business. For instance, if someone spends a lot of time in front of a computer, how much actual work gets done will depend on his or her motivation. Instead of doing any work, the unmotivated are more likely to be combing the social media, for example.

Those who work from home, says the report, spend more time working than their counterparts 'at work'. In these cases, the line between work life and home life becomes less clear; the home worker often eats as he or she work, instead of going home for a couple of hours at lunch time, or out for a 'cafelito'.

Better organization, more exercise

Health is also an issue inasmuch as working too many hours can cause health deterioration, and therefore impact negatively on performance in the medium to long term, particularly if someone is sitting in front of a computer for several hours, in bad posture and little exercise in his or her free time. The result of this is stress, anxiety, a sedentary lifestyle, 'tired' eye/sight, joint or back problems and an almost non-existent family life. [Editor's note: there does exist a universally recognised addiction called workaholism.)

Therefore it is highly advisable to learn to be better organised in order to achieve more in less time. Learning to say no is important, too, as is taking exercise, taking short but frequent pauses, taking care of personal relationships (which should never be exclusively work-oriented) and taking enough sleep (about which we're preparing an article following a national campaign to increase the number of sleeping hours in the country).

Work is important, but the person is more so. In the long run, if the person is damaged, so the working environment, motivation and productivity will also be.

(Original sources: OECD, El País, Cinco Días)

(See the entire Work-Life Balance report on Spain and the other OECD countries.)